CHINA News, Changsha, November 2 (Zhou Jinyang, Yao Huahui) - Yan, who misappropriated public funds for stock trading and then returned the full amount, thought he would escape unscathed. However, Yan was ultimately convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to one and a half years in prison, with a two-year reprieve.
The High-Quality Agricultural Products Development Service Center Business Department of Yiyang Anhua County and the Disease-Free Pomelo Quality Breeding Farm of Anhua County are both state-owned enterprises. These two entities jointly invested 50,000 yuan each to establish the Anhua County High-Quality Tea and Fruit Seedling Technology Development Co., Ltd. The defendant in this case, Mr. Yan, is the vice manager and accountant of the company.
In May 2009, Jiang, the vice manager and cashier of Anhua County High-Quality Tea and Fruit Seedling Technology Development Co., Ltd., in order to help Chen, the branch manager of the Anhua Construction Branch of China Post Savings Bank, complete a savings task, proposed opening a company account and depositing money at the postal bank to the company manager, Chan. Later, due to incomplete relevant documents from the company, it was impossible to open a company account. Chen suggested that Jiang privately deposit the company's public funds into the postal bank to help him complete the savings task. Jiang agreed and made a suggestion to Manager Chan. Chan then discussed the deposit matters with the defendant Yan and Jiang, agreeing to deposit 300,000 yuan of public funds under personal names into the postal bank. Since the postal bank stipulated that each customer depositing 100,000 yuan would receive corresponding savings gifts and souvenirs, it was decided to deposit 100,000 yuan of public funds under the personal names of Chan, Yan, and Jiang respectively into the postal bank. Subsequently, Jiang handled the procedures for depositing 100,000 yuan under each of their names at the postal bank, and Jiang uniformly kept the three passbooks, bank cards, and passwords.
In June 2009, the defendant Yan asked Jiang to hand over the passbook, card, and password of the 100,000 yuan of public funds deposited under his name. Jiang handed over the passbook, card, and password to the defendant Yan. Soon after, the defendant Yan heard that stock trading could be profitable, and thus conceived the idea of misappropriating public funds to entrust others with stock trading to make money. In August 2009, the defendant Yan, taking advantage of his custody of the public fund bank card,擅自handed the card over to his friend Chen, entrusting him to use the 100,000 yuan to trade stocks. Yan concealed the truth from Chen, telling him that the 100,000 yuan was his parents' savings. From August 2009 onward, Chen gradually withdrew the 100,000 yuan from the card, depositing it into his own securities account to help the defendant Yan trade stocks. It wasn't until April 2010, when the financial cleaning group of the Chengnan District Management Committee of Anhua County began to clean up the finances of Anhua County High-Quality Tea and Fruit Seedling Technology Development Co., Ltd., that the defendant Yan returned the misappropriated public funds.
The People's Court of Anhua County, Hunan Province, ruled that as a state official, Yan used his position to misappropriate public funds for personal profit-making activities, involving a significant amount. His actions violated the right to use public property and the integrity of state officials. The criminal facts were clear, the evidence was solid and sufficient, constituting the crime of misappropriation of public funds. He should be punished by law accordingly. Considering that Yan returned the misappropriated public funds before the case occurred and voluntarily confessed to his crimes, leniency was granted appropriately. Based on Yan's criminal circumstances and repentance, applying probation would not lead to further harm to society, so probation can be declared.